You are using Internet Explorer 8 to view this site. IE8 is a 6-year-old browser that does not display modern web sites properly. Please upgrade to a newer browser to make best use of this site. Contact your local library branch if you require assistance. For more information, see this FAQ page.

Teens Read Biographies

Annotation:230 p. (Gr 9-12)
An exploration of one of the most powerful Americans of the twentieth century unmasks the man behind the FBI, his family history, and relationships, and explores his own need for secrecy, deceit, and control, and the broad trends in society that shaped his world.

Annotation:148 p. (Gr 7-12)
This lyrical biography explores the life and art of Yoko Ono, from her childhood haiku to her avant-garde visual art and experimental music. Her focus remained on being an artist, even when the rest of world saw her only as the wife of John Lennon.

Annotation:272 p. (Gr 8-12)
Told through real-life journals, collages, lists, and drawings, this coming-of-age story illustrates the transformation of an 18-year-old girl from a small-town teenager into an independent city-dwelling college student. Written in an autobiographical style with beautiful artwork, Little Fish shows the challenges of being a young person facing the world on her own for the very first time.

Annotation:321 p. (Gr 9-12)
Traces the inspiring life and career of the late founder of Apple, covering topics ranging from his struggles as an adopted child and a college dropout to his Buddhist faith and friendship with Steve Wozniak, in a portrait framed around his inspirational Stanford University commencement speech.

Annotation:96 p. (Gr 6-9)
This book provides an overview to the assassination, and the impact of Malcolm X's life, and his death, on civil rights in the United States. Examines the assassination of the civil rights leader, describing his tumultuous relationship with the Nation of Islam, the events leading up to his assassination, and the prosecution of his assailants.

Annotation:154 p. (Gr 7-12)
Describes the apartheid South in Martin Luther King's time, which in many ways was not very different from the early days of slavery, with descriptions of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the formation of civil rights groups, and mass movements against segregation.

Annotation:224 p. (Gr 8-12)
Fans of all ages will be able to discover everything they've ever wanted to know about Jenks, from growing up to becoming a renowned documentary filmmaker in this comprehensive photo-biography. How did he do it? By following his own rules for success-always be flexible, fake it till you make it, and never accept no.

Annotation:252 p. (Gr 7-12)
This is the diary of a smart, astute, and funny teenager, making a record of what an everyday American girl thought and felt during the Depression and the lead-up to World War II. This is an important primary source on the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Annotation:240 p. (Gr 7-12)
The Brontë sisters are among the most beloved writers of all time, best known for their classic nineteenth-century novels Jane Eyre (Charlotte), Wuthering Heights (Emily), and Agnes Grey (Anne). In this sometimes heartbreaking young adult biography, Catherine Reef explores the turbulent lives of these literary siblings and the oppressive times in which they lived.

Annotation:226p. (Gr 9-12)
American-educated Jordanian Luma Mufleh founds a youth soccer team comprised of children from Liberia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkan states, and elsewhere in the refugee settlement town of Clarkston, Georgia, bringing the children together to discover their common bonds as they adjust to life in a new homeland.

Annotation:182p. (Gr 9-12)
This is the dramatic tale of how Howard Wasdin overcame a tough childhood to live his dream and enter the exciting and dangerous world of Navy SEALS and Special Forces snipers.